


when the sun and the moon share the sky

by justasadsong (deathlys)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-04
Updated: 2013-08-04
Packaged: 2017-12-22 10:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/912384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathlys/pseuds/justasadsong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dany is a newcomer at Mountain's End. Jon didn't ask for her, and she didn't ask for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when the sun and the moon share the sky

Jon Snow sat carefully on the concrete ledge, his legs dangling against the weathered red brick of the tall classrooms building he was situated on. Mountain’s End was a large school, with large, tall, buildings, and Jon and Robb and Sam liked to walk above the world on its rooftops.  
  
“Are you afraid you’re going to fall?” he heard Robb tease, followed by laughter. Robb was pushing Sam up to the ledge, making him look at the bustling staff below, nearly seventy feet away. The tops of their heads bobbed and glinted in the sunlight. Most of the students had yet to arrive; classes started in two weeks. However, Robb’s father was a teacher and Jon and Sam were orphans. He and Sam lived at the school year-round, but they had fun. Jon never disliked being at Mountain’s End.  
  
“Well; I’m not a bird, am I?” came Samwell’s defiant reply. “I’m not going to fly into the clouds; I’ll splat on the ground and the groundskeepers’ll have to clean me up.”  
  
“Big mess that would be,” Robb grinned.   
  
Sam glared at him and Jon laughed despite himself. “Stop torturing him, Robb. You two need to shut up and enjoy the nice weather.”  
  
Mountain’s End was, as it’s name indicated, located at the base of a mountain, which in turn was nested in a long ridge stretching north and south. It was a cloudy, rainy area, with forests and fields crawling up the chain of peaks until they became white shards in he sky, snowy caps piercing the abundant clouds. Precipitation was frequent, and sunny days like this were rare. A cloud overhead shifted, and everything became bathed in gold. Jon felt utterly at home.  
  
“Imagine swimming in this weather,” Robb said. “We should have gone to the river.”  
  
Sam glanced sullenly towards the trees. “I would’ve enjoyed that. I should have brought a book.”  
  
“Why read about adventures when you could have your own? Come on, Sam, _live_! Where is your courage? Where are your guts?” Robb grinned widely, his expression daring. Sam eyed him, not answering.  
  
Jon sighed, exasperated. “Don’t push him, Robb,” he said lightly. Robb acted so seriously around his parents Jon thought he must have liked to release his energy on him and Sam. Jon got that feeling about Robb’s sisters, too; the lively Sansa and the playful Arya. Arya liked pestering Jon for fighting lessons.  
  
Jon tilted his head back and wished he could touch the sky with his face. The sun’s rays burned at his skin, just a little. Jon Snow had never been one for hot weather, but today he let it melt away his thoughts. His pale skin was goldening and his often-tense muscles loosened in the heat. He smiled into the wind.   
  
Loud words drifted up from below. At the gate, a couple of black vans were being let in by Mister Selmy and Mister Clegane. Jon leaned forward, curious. More students? he wondered. Jon watched Robb’s father approach the vehicles as they pulled up.  
  
For a moment the clouds had come back, and he couldn’t really see them in the shadows. Then the sunshine fought its way through, and Mister Stark was pulling a door open to let someone step out, and a young girl came into view, burning gold and silver in the light.  
  
Her hair was white and reminded Jon of smoke and clouds and snowflakes. Her gray dress fluttered in the wind, and he thought they could be wings. “Who’s that?” he asked aloud.  
  
Robb leaned over the ledge to look. “Never seen her before. I hope she’s our age, she looks incredible.”  
  
Jon watched as she followed a tall man and Mister Stark into the office building. “She looks like a star,” he said, unable to help it; the words fell smoothly from his mouth like stones into a stream. “She could burn brighter than the sun.” He swallowed. “She looks like a lot of things.”   
  
“You should go talk to her,” Sam said. “Jon snow falling for a _girl_?” he teased  
  
“Preposterous,” Robb added, smirking. Jon sort of wished he could hit them both.  
  
+++  
  
Dany did not shiver in the breeze as she followed Jorah and Mister Stark up to the tiny building labeled Offices. She would have to wait while Jorah finished all of the papers they needed to enroll her.  
  
She felt anger begin to seethe beneath her skin, as well as a cold kind of sadness. Viserys hadn’t even come to see her to her fate, nor had he said goodbye.  
  
She huffed, looking at all the certificates and framed photos on the walls. Everything about Mountain’s End looked so _old_. It looked worn, though, and welcoming, yet Dany did not feel like she could belong.   
  
She wasn’t scared, she decided. Maybe lonely. Out of place, definitely. She had been hoping for a situation in which she could try to adjust, like she always did, but it didn’t look so. It didn’t _feel_ so. Mountain’s End looked friendly; Dany did not want friendly.  
  
Dany stood up and went back outside, where it was hot enough, at least, to make her feel better. Jorah wouldn’t mind if she started to wander.   
  
The school was very immersed in nature, she noticed. There was a multitude of gardens and a section of river on the other side of the grounds that was open to students. The grass on the lawns fluttered in the breeze, drinking up the hot sun. Jorah had told her that days like this were rare, that she’d be more likely to experience rains and gray skies. Maybe she would shrivel up from lack of sunlight.  
  
But she was stronger than that. She would go explore the river before any inclement weather could prevent her from doing so. She dreaded the idea of being locked up inside buildings; she should make her way around before that could happen.  
  
The land sloped a bit as she went, and the grass tickled the sides of her feet. She was reminded of being a child, going on adventures with Viserys in the woods on their estates.   
  
She missed that. Without Viserys, no one wanted to be friends with her. All he did was ignore her and drink with his friends, who were all rude and loud and pretentious.  
  
The trees provided a cold, wet shade. Sunlight fell in streams onto the ground and the surface of the water, and Dany immediately toed off her shoes to wade in. Rucking up her dress up around her thighs, she contemplated swimming down a ways. That would be hellishly fun, but then Jorah might kill her.  
  
“Don’t fall in; the water level gets dangerously high sometimes.”   
  
Dany whirled around, her mouth hanging comically open. She was holding her dress up, hiked up nearly around her crotch and there was a dark-haired boy watching her. “I know how to swim,” she said, determined not to seem like a fool. She tried to seem less embarrassed. He hadn’t caught her doing anything.  
  
“Do you?” The boy sounded amused. Dany noticed he was wearing a dark sweater with sleeves going halfway up his palms. Interesting. “I don’t think our friend would like it very much if I had to rescue you from the rushing current.”  
  
Dany wriggled her feet until the sand surrounded her ankles. “Awful place, awful people,” she said aloud. “Would drowning in the river _really_ be that bad?”  
  
The boy shrugged. His hair was curly and a bit unkempt but he had sharp features that made him look intelligent. “Just saying, Mister Selmy’s had to rescue a few people before. Wouldn’t want to lose any students.”  
  
“I’ll be fine.” He was right, though; the water was a bit too fast and strong. And cold. “I’m Dany.”  
  
“Jon Snow. Are you new? My friend and I saw your cars come through the gates. Sam thought you must’ve been someone incredibly important.”   
  
Dany found the boulder she had tucked her shoes under just a few minutes ago. She sat down and began putting them back on. “He’s half right.” Eyeing his clothes, she asked, “Why are you covered up so much? You must be boiling yourself alive.”  
  
Jon shrugged again. “It’s what I wear.”  
  
She accepted it as an answer and gazed at the rushing water. Light bounced off of it in white shimmering patches. “Does this place let students go swimming? I’d like to go swimming one day.” She didn’t know why she was asking the black-and-white boy. He looked her age but sharp and pale and dark and much bigger than she was. She held herself up, though, and tried to appear strong, like she always did.  
  
“We’re allowed to go to the towns sometimes. There’s a lake not too far from here.”   
  
Jon looked taken aback, like he didn’t know why he was still answering her questions.   
  
“Do you have a lot of friends, Jon?”   
  
He paused. “Two, mostly. Sam and Robb.”  
  
“You don’t talk to people much, do you?” Dany looked at her feet then mustered up the courage to look Jon in the eyes. “Why are you talking to me?”  
  
Jon looked at her and did not move from where he was standing. “I saw you come out of your car,” he said, “and I saw you walking. I’m sorry if that sounds tremendously creepy. My friend Sam said you looked like gold and silver or sunshine.”  
  
“Thank him,” she told him. “I’m glad he did.”  
  
+++  
  
Jon peered out the library widow, sighing. “There she goes,” he called to Robb, watching as the head of bright red hair bounced across the saturated grass, desperately seeking the attention of a white-blond boy a year older than her.  
  
Robb was on the second floor, examining books about hundred-year-old wars.   
  
“You know you can’t stop her, right?” Jon asked.   
  
“Yep,” Robb replied. He didn’t look up from his book, but Jon saw him shift and tense his fingers. “I wish I could, though. It’s not about her, it’s about that pretentious shitface.”  
  
Jon moved away from the window and back to the study table, where Dany was studying her literature assignments. He sat in the chair across from her and tried to look busy, even though there was nothing in front of him but her and her books.  
  
She looked up at him, quiet eyes calm and wide. “I don’t like the look of him, either,” she said. “He’ll _hurt_ her.”  
  
“Do you think she wants to be hurt?” Jon asked quietly.   
  
“She’s normally so sensible,” Robb said from above, voice neutral.   
  
“She can’t actually _like_ him.” Dany wrinkled her nose. “He’s not charming and he’s not good at pretending to be charming. He probably just wants to fuck her.”   
  
Robb cleared his throat. Jon and Dany both looked up. “It’s not my business who she fucks as long is she’s not being—risky about it. I just don’t want _Joffrey_ fucking her.”  
  
“Does your father know?”  
  
Robb made a disgusted noise. For the entire conversation he had not looked up from his books and he was holding himself as stiffly as the spines around them. “He thinks they’re sweet on each other.”  
  
Jon eyed Dany and the determination that was beginning to creep over her face. “You’re not going to do anything about it, are you?”  
  
“Are you going to stop me?”  
  
“No. But I doubt you’ll change her mind.”  
  
Dany closed her book and crossed her arms. He tried not to look away as she glared at him. “You don’t want Joffrey to hurt me, do you? But it’s okay if he hurts Sansa.”  
  
Robb sniggered from above. “Do whatever you want, Dany; the consequences are yours.”  
  
Dany showed him her middle finger. Picking up her books, she donned a disappointed expression and marched out of the library.   
  
Robb coughed loudly.  
  
“Did I say something?”   
  
“She’s a strong, independent woman, Jon. You shouldn’t have expressed your concern.”  
  
“Isn’t that what friends do? What was I supposed to do?”  
  
“You want to be more than friends with her.”  
  
“And when have you become so good at reading into people?”  
  
He snorted. “Are you an idiot? Your name is Jon Snow. Dany is fire and you melt in her presence. What is there to read?” Robb looked at him. “You should go apologize or something.”  
  
“So . . . now I need to make it up to her?”  
  
“You’re the one who upset her, not me.” Robb paused. “I don’t think she likes the idea of you viewing her as someone you need to defend. Protect, rather.”  
  
I’m her friend, Jon wanted to say. That’s what friends do. But he slumped in his chair . Dany got worked up over small things, some of which he couldn’t blame her for. He thought she liked feeling as though she was making a difference. She naturally liked to help people, and he admired her for it. It brought out the bravery hiding away in her face.   
  
He crossed the grounds to the place Joff and Sansa normally went to together; a secluded alcove against one of the dormitory buildings. Maybe he’d be lucky and Dany wouldn’t have shown up yet; she pretended to be strong but they both still knew that Joffrey would be more likely to hit her than he was to hit Jon.   
  
“What do you want?” came a sneer. Jon sighed and braced himself for any verbal onslaught that could come. “Are you looking for your friend’s sister? Because she’s busy. If he wants to speak to her, he can come get her himself, instead of sending his pitiful little servant.”   
  
“If she wants to talk to me she will. Sansa does what she wants.” Jon looked at the redhead, who stared back at him with wide eyes, startled by his actions. “Is this what you want, Sansa? To be with this bratty dope?”   
  
“I--,” she started, and was interrupted by Joffrey.   
  
“Of course she does,” he snipped. “She’d much rather hang out with me than with you, doesn’t she? Or her lame brother.” He glanced at Sansa, who looked uncertain of what to say or of what was happening. “ _Right_ , Sansa?”   
  
“Does your father know how rude he is? Does he know that the only thing Joffrey has in store for you is regret?”  
  
Sansa hesitated. “Did Robb send you?”  
  
“Of course he did!” Joffrey sneered. “The coward isn’t brave enough to approach me by himself.”  
  
“I should see what he wants,” she mumbled quietly.  
  
“You should see what _you_ want,” Jon said.  
  
+++  
  
Dany felt indignant. People needed to stop caring for her as if she was still a child needing to be protected from the world. Or perhaps she wasn’t used to people expressing care for her in the first place. In the few months between now and the beginning of the year, she and Jon had maintained a very careful, balanced distance from each other. She was not very good at making friends, or keeping them, or getting close to them. She had figured Jon was the same.   
  
This hadn’t started out about their relationship. Dany wanted to care, even though she did not know Sansa, but she thought she was a nice girl, and she _did_ know Joffrey, and she knew that he would cause nothing but problems for Sansa.  
  
Someone knocked on the door to her room; she figured it was Jon.   
  
“I think I care too much,” she said aloud. There was not an answer. “Do you think I care too much, Jon?”  
  
Shuffling could be heard. “I think you care an alright amount,” came the answer. “It’s very selfless, the way that you—just want to help. Sometimes I think you don’t let other people help you in return.”  
  
“It’s not something I normally expect from people,” Dany said. She looked down at her hands resting awkwardly in her lap and thought of all the days she’d spent in a similar position sitting in the middle of her large, sunny room back at the estate, with no one to talk to her or check on her. Now, here she was, with Jon standing outside her door. She got up, uncertain as to whether or not she should open the door.   
  
She put her back against it and slid until she was sitting down, facing the window. “Thank you.”   
  
“For caring?” Jon asked amusedly. “That’s what people do, isn’t it?”  
  
“Yes. Especially friends.”   
  
She said nothing more, but heard more shuffling on the other side of the door. Dany wanted to think that Jon had his back against the door as well, and if that was true they must have looked peculiar. She turned her head. “Are we talking through a wooden door?”  
  
She heard him chuckle. “I’m glad we are.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I think I subconsciously tried to use G. Martin's style of writing as much as possible while writing this, and I have a minimalistic style of writing so . . . this happened. 
> 
> I have only read the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire, and have only seen the first season of the TV show.


End file.
